Exactly as unsubtle as it needed to be (while also having a surprising amount of subtlety in other areas) considering the games that it serves as a criticism of, all of the Yahtzees and TotalBiscuits who say that the white phosphorous scene is "like mooning someone and then shaming them for looking at a butt" while not batting an eye at any other war shooter can fuck off (I mean they can also fuck off for a metric shitton of other reasons but this isn't quite the review for that).

in hindsight this is literally the only valid military shooter (unless you count things like the opening of Wolfenstein TNO)

This is one of those cases where I'm much more harsh than the score would justify because the game that exists is overshadowed by what it wants to be.

From what I can see, this game's flaws are some of the most famous things about it at this point, and justifiably so - the dull gameplay, the way it smugly berates you for merely playing the game, the ham-fisted messaging. I feel like it's harder to see past the flaws now, since nobody playing in 2021 is coming in blind.

I still have a special place in my heart for this game because I remember having no prior exposure and being pleasantly surprised, but the need to come in blind betrays the fact that the game relies a lot on its twists as opposed to any serious examination of its own themes. You will never successfully guilt me for playing a video game the way it was intended, and I think the devs overplayed their hand a bit in responding that you can "just stop playing" if you didn't want to be railroaded into doing shitty things. It makes the game feel like a set of shallow "gotcha!" moments - trying to demonstrate that virtual violence is a real problem by making you do shitty things and then calling you out for doing them. There are impactful ways to make this point and this isn't one of them.

Despite being the second FPS retelling of Heart of Darkness in 3 years, the story is genuinely interesting when it's not trying to antagonize the player. It spends so much time trying to do that, though, that it shoots itself in the foot, and the gameplay that's left over is NOT good enough to carry the rest of the experience - and don't tell me that's the point, because if they deliberately made the combat weaker because of ~themes~ they wouldn't have included a multiplayer mode where you can tear shit up with your pals.

Segunda vez zerado esse ano.

Spec Ops: The Line não é um jogo experimental, muito menos que reinventa a roda. Ele não precisa ser isso.

A sua campanha desconstrói o mito criado em cima do herói de guerra clássico, aqueles que alcançam a glória por matar. Mesmo assim, ele em nenhum momento tenta de deixar mal pelas suas ações, apenas expõe as consequências, de maneira nua e crua, pesada e marcante. Cenas chocantes não são colocadas gratuitamente, os motivos já estão lá, você os viu e executou.

Ele é o TPS narrativo mais interessante e bem feito do mercado (pelo menos na geração passada). Um jogo que deveria ser obrigatório.

If this game was replayable, it would be your perfect game.

This "heart of darkness" epic is to this day the only game that i've played thats properly managed a drastic thematic shift that has worked THIS well.

The first, few hours, end up being a wonderfully generic military shooter, and then it gets..........good.